USC Viterbi Seniors compete at the AIAA Region VI Student Conference
The USC Departments of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (AME) and Astronautics (ASTE) sent 5 groups from the 441 Senior Projects course to participate in the AIAA Region VI Student Conference at Santa Clara University, 23-24 March.
The AME teams received 2nd and 3rd place in the Undergraduate Teams category, continuing the department’s strong tradition of success at the AIAA conference; in 2023, AME students won 1st and 2nd place in the team division and 1st place in the individual division.
In addition to the winning AME projects, students working within USC ASPEN (Advanced Spacecraft Propulsion and Energy Lab) at ASTE received 3rd place in the Undergraduate Teams category.
The 2nd place winners, Kaitlyn Kumar, Yvonne Li and Manas Shah, presented their work on an untethered electrically-actuated jumping exoskeleton for lunar locomotion. Their project focused on torque trajectory optimization using multiple dynamic models to optimize efficiency of exoskeleton assisted motion.
The 3rd place winners, Anushka Tahiliani, Sarah Nyguyen and Christina Azzi, presented their work on a morphable aileron design incorporating a sliding wing with integrated flexibility and transformation (SWIFT). The SWIFT concept was experimentally demonstrated to be aerodynamically viable and practically achievable at the scale of UAV aircraft.
The 3rd place winning ASTE project was presented by Autumn Zaretsky and Cameron Coen, whose project for the ASPEN laboratory at USC involved the development of a Langmuir Probe for characterization of an adamantane based solid propellent plasma thruster.
Click here to read more about the innovative projects developed during the course and first exhibited at the annual AME Senior Projects showcase, including projects developed in collaboration with ASTE.
Published on April 1st, 2024
Last updated on April 9th, 2024
